Vonnegut Project Update

Step 1: Buy, Buy, Buy


I don't spend a huge percentage of my budget on books, but I am certainly no stranger to a bookstore, or to an online bookstore. One of the nicest part of commuting downtown is I can do my Sukoku and crossword in the morning and usually finish before I get to work, and then read on the way home. It makes for a happy Dave. One of the first projects I had to undertake was completing my Vonnegut collection. I discovered that I was missing 6 rbooks, three of which I picked up while I was shopping for a belated birthday present for my father. Three others I had to buy online, as they did not seem to be available in stores. They arrived last week, so my collection now looks a little something like this:


Step 2: Read, Read, Read.
As you can see from the above list, I have just over 5,900 pages of Vonnegut to read, of which, I have completed about 600. These 600 haven't gone by too quickly, but once I get into certain other books, they'll fly by. I started this project on June 11, and in the following 27 days, I've only finished one book, but I'm close to finishing number two.

So far, I can say this. Player Piano is not one of my favorite books, but I can understand why. Vonnegut hadn't really found his own voice yet, and his style wasn't quite his. The ending isn't that great, and the story, at times, seems to drag, especially the sub-plot involving the sumklish-guzzling Shah of Bratpuhr. I understand how his character is essential to driving the point home, however, he's just so uninteresting to me.

The Siens of Titan, however, is one of my favorites, and I'm enjoying rereading it again. Each time I read this book, I think of another way I'd like to turn it into a movie. Of all his books, this would be the one I'd want to do first. Who knows, maybe after this project, I'll take a screen writing class or two and see what I can come up with.